1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding handle assembly for cooking pans, such as outdoor frying pans or outdoor saucepans, and, more particularly, to a folding handle assembly for such cooking pans, fabricated by hinging a specifically and symmetrically bent wire handle to a bracket to allow the handle to be selectively closed onto the top of a cooking pan, the handle assembly of this invention being specifically designed to reliably maintain its desired elasticity for a lengthy period of time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a frying pan with a conventional folding handle assembly. As shown in the drawing, the conventional folding handle assembly for cooking pans comprises a handle bracket 10 and a folding handle 20.
The bracket 10 is a single body, which is mounted to a cooking pan at a desired position and has a fitting hole 11 and two stoppers 12. The handle 20 is a wire member, which is specifically and symmetrically bent to form an elastic structure consisting of opposite fitting ends 21, two snap arms 22 and one handle body 23.
That is, the bracket 10 is formed by pressing a steel plate and is mounted to a desired position on the external surface of the cooking pan through a riveting process, a screwing process or a welding process. The handle 20 is formed by specifically and symmetrically bending a steel wire, having a desired length, in a way such that the handle 20 has a desired elasticity. This handle 20 is assembled with the bracket 10 into a desired folding handle assembly by inserting the opposite fitting ends 21 of the handle 20 into the opposite ends of the fitting hole 11 of the bracket 10.
When the handle 20 is assembled with the bracket 10 by inserting the opposite fitting ends 21 of the handle 20 into the two fitting holes 11 of the bracket 10, the two snap arms 22 of the handle 20 can be elastically caught by or released from the inner surfaces of the two stoppers 12 of the bracket 10. The handle 20 can be thus elastically opened or closed relative to the handle 20 as desired.
Therefore, when the handle 20 is fully opened with the two snap arms 22 being elastically caught by the inner surfaces of the two stoppers 12, it is possible for a user to safely move the cooking pan while cooking, with the handle body 23 being gripped by a hand. When the handle 20 is compressed by a hand to reduce the gap between the two snap arms 22, the two snap arms 22 of the handle 20 are released from the two stoppers 12 of the bracket, thus allowing the user to rotate the handle 20 upwardly around the fitting hole 11 of the bracket 10 and to close the handle 10 onto the top of the cooking pan.
While moving such a cooking pan containing hot food with the folding handle 20 being gripped by a hand, it is necessary for the snap arms 22 of the handle 20 to be continuously and firmly caught by the stoppers 12 of the bracket 10. However, when the gripping force applied to the handle body 23 during a movement of the pan carelessly exceeds a predetermined level, the snap arms 23 may be released from the stoppers 12 and allows the handle 20 to be unexpectedly collapsed, thus being dangerous to the user. Particularly, it is necessary for users to grip the handle body 23 with somewhat exceeding force in order to prevent an unexpected dropping of the pan when the pan is somewhat heavy due to food contained in the pan. In such a case, the snap arms 23 of the handle 20 are more easily released from the stoppers 12 of the bracket, thus being very inconvenient and dangerous to users while using the cooking pans having such folding handles 20.
In addition, the elasticity of the folding handle 20 is more quickly reduced as the length of the handle 20 is increased. Therefore, it is very difficult to maintain a desired elastic engagement of the folding handle 20 with the bracket 10 for a desired period of time, but the handle 20 may be easily and unexpectedly played relative to the bracket 10.